If the Detroit Tigers don’t take a position player with their first round draft pick this June, I may have to find a new job. Come draft day, if the Tigers opt for another arm — no matter how promising — Detroit’s fanbase will implode.
The Tigers have long been an organization that prioritizes arms in the amateur draft, taking pitchers early and often when they are on the clock. That has led to some big payoffs, like the emergence of Justin Verlander as one of the best pitchers of this generation. It is also a somewhat frustrating trait that makes it a little more difficult for fans to grin and bear it through the current rebuild.